The second Narendra Modi-led BJP government has announced the appointment of two-time Rajya Sabha MP Nirmala Sitharaman as the new Finance Minister.
She has served as the Minister of Defence and will replace Arun Jaitley has decided to opt out on health grounds.
Sitharaman will also be getting the Minister of Corporate Affairs.
Sitharaman formally joined the BJP in 2008, before that she worked as an assistant to an economist in the Agricultural Engineers Association in the United Kingdom, a senior manager in the Research and Development department of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and also worked at the BBC World Service.
Sitharaman was inducted as Minister of State, Commerce and Industry, with independent charge in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2014 cabinet before being elected as a member of Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh in June 2018.
She successfully fought for a Rajya Sabha seat from Karnataka in 2016 and was one of the 12 candidates nominated by the BJP to contest the elections.
In 2017, Sitharaman was given charge of the Ministry of Defence and has been in office since. Prior to the cabinet reshuffle, she had also handled the ministries of finance and corporate affairs.
Sitharaman also served as the BJP’s national spokesperson from 2010-14. She has served as a member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) from 2003-05, under the government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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